Random Fear-Related Story

So, this was inspired by a few posts about animal-related fears. I found myself thinking of Ivy’s fear of snakes. And her fear of clowns. And her normal reaction to both. This story’s…not the most ridiculous thing I’ve written *looks to the 2 prompt-related stories I’ve yet to finish…wait, make that 3*. But here it is anyway.

It was supposed to be one of those nights. A calm, normal, downright boring night. Ivy would have preferred that. Okay, so it probably wouldn’t have been as boring, given that it was a date night. She and Travis were on their way to their destination, a restaurant with an all-you-can-eat buffet. This place tended to have excellent drinks (and Travis saw “all-you-can-eat” as a challenge), so that covered both of their criteria.

Once more, it was supposed to be a calm night. What they hadn’t expected was to be mugged. Yes, they’d taken a shortcut down a dark alley, but it was generally common knowledge that Ivy was not to be trifled with. Of course, that may have been negated somewhat by Travis’ reputation. Many saw him to be an easy target, after he’d been taken to laboratory after laboratory, experimented on, victimized by the worst serial killer the city of Hell Bent had ever seen…Why wouldn’t some rando take a shot at him?

“Just empty your pockets, and I’ll leave you alone,” their mugger said from behind them.

Huh. No footsteps. Though something smelled a little odd…

The pair turned, facing him. Travis rolled his eyes as he recognized him, while Ivy’s own eye started twitching a bit. The man had the upper body of a normal human…save for the eyes. Those had slitted, snake-like pupils. His lower body didn’t make matters any better, a long scaly tail situated where his legs should’ve been. And they really should’ve been there.

Ivy’s hand had already flown to the hilt of the sword she had on her back, and she was getting into an attack-friendly position. She’s never liked snakes. In fact, she’d always hated them. She couldn’t quite place why they unnerved her so. But the only reason that this guy was still breathing was that Travis was trying to defuse the situation. Or make it worse. Either way, he was in her way and she had no intention of hurting him. Sure, he’d regenerate, but he didn’t want to use that ability unless he had to.

Travis narrowed his eyes, tail flicking. “Again, not happenin’. And if you don’t leave us the fuck alone, you’re gonna find yourself in the hospital. And that’s if Ivy’s feeling nice.”

‘Well, that was probably the wrong thing to say!’ Travis thought to himself as the thick tail darted toward the half-monkey, coiling around him. He screeched in surprise. At that exact same time, Ivy had her sword drawn, eyes glowing as she stared Sherman down.

“Let him go…” she demanded, managing to keep most of the shakiness from her voice.

“Or, you can hand over your cash, and maybe that sword, and I won’t snap your pet’s neck.”

Travis sighed. “Why do you think I’m her ‘pet’, dude? Seriously, the stuff we do? NOT something someone should be doing with their pets, if you get my meaning…”

Sherman reached out with a human hand, squeezing his neck for a moment.

“You heard me, lady. Hand over the—“

Welp. On the one hand, he got her sword. On the other, he got that sword blade-first, right in one of the coils. He lost his grip on Travis right away, the half-monkey scrambling back toward Ivy and ducking behind the woman (despite having 8 inches and a good 60 pounds on her).

She reached out with her powers, yanking the blade back to herself and cleaning it off on a pant leg.

He was bleeding and glared at her, before slithering toward the hospital. Once he was out of earshot, Ivy re-sheathed her sword and hugged Travis, shaking a bit.

“You okay?” he asked, returning the hug.

“Hesitation means death…hesitation means death…why did I fucking hesitate…?” she muttered. “Shoulda stabbed him before he could grab you…”

Travis held her a bit longer. “I don’t care that you hesitated. The main thing I care about is that you’re okay. Okay?”

She nodded. “I’ll be fine…still hungry?”

“Still need alcohol?”

She chuckled, as they broke off the hug and continued on their way. This time, they stayed more in a well-lit area, with the hopes of avoiding another such incident.

Of course, Travis’ luck being what it was guaranteed that they were probably bound for more trouble.

And that trouble came in the form of a tiny, brightly-colored car. Sinister calliope music filled the air. Well, to most it would be regular calliope music. To Ivy, however…

“Travis. Behind me. Now,” she commanded, eyes and hands glowing. “I have no idea how many of them are in there…”

Travis stepped behind her, as the car inched to a stop. And that was when the clowns piled out of there. Five of them. And before one of them, the one with the huge bright red wig and matching nose, could utter a syllable, a blast of telekinetic energy knocked him off of his oversized feet.

She had attacked a second one before the other three scrambled out of the way. Ivy was vaguely aware of the hand on her arm.

“Ivy, I don’t think they’re here to attack you,” Travis said.

And that was when one of those left standing pulled out a large bowling pin, banging it into the palm of his hand.

“ATTACK!” he called, with the sort of voice that indicated a great deal of helium use.

The three clowns charged at her, one of the other two armed with a rubber chicken and the other with an oversized hammer. A squeaky oversized hammer. She charged at them with a roar, sending more blasts of psychic energy at them. And Travis stood back and watched, arms crossed. He didn’t notice the slithering behind him. Not until the tail curled around him again. And it was bleeding.

“…Aw, come, ON!” he grumbled, trying to get out of his grip.

Ivy was in the middle of her fight with the clowns, still. She’d gotten them down to two. She dodged the chicken, bringing out her sword and slicing it in half. One of the remaining clowns disarmed, he ran away, shoes squeaking as he made his escape. The other two saw a mailbox being lifted from the ground by that same turquoise glow that was bound to haunt their nightmares, and saw that as their cue to retreat.

“Start the car, START THE CAR!” one of them called as they both piled into the clown car.

“I’M TRYING!”

The car was started just in time to be lifted up by that telekinetic energy, after which point it was airborne. And what’s more, it smashed Sherman in the face, causing him to drop Travis. The half-monkey again rushed toward Ivy, the two moving quickly from the scene.